Nightmares and dreams swirl in Knicks coach Don Chaney’s head. One moment, Tuesday’s Garden loss to the Grizzlies haunts Chaney. The next, he is inspired by the Bucks’ and Magic’s defeats.

When his head finally clears, Chaney imagines a winning streak and then maybe the playoffs.

“Maybe it’s foolish dreams or whatever you want to call it, but I have a lot of faith in these guys,” said Chaney, whose team’s longest win streak of the season is three. “I think we are capable of doing it. I have thoughts in my mind of a six- or seven-game run. I truly believe it can happen.”

So, here the Knicks go again tonight, with a very winnable game in Atlanta. With a win against the Hawks and then the eighth-place Bucks at the Garden Sunday, the Knicks and playoffs can still be talked about with some reality involved.

If they lose tonight, then the song-and-dances about the playoffs should be retired for this season.

“We can’t look at it as a make-or-break, we just have to win them,” Chaney said.

The difference between being in and out of the playoffs is slim. The Knicks’ loss Tuesday marked the 13th game in their past 36 games the winner was determined on the final possession. The Knicks are 6-7 in those games.

“The Memphis game is starting to haunt me,” Chaney said. “I usually try to push it away. I haven’t been able to do that. We needed that game.”

The 10th-place Knicks are three games back of the ninth-place Wizards and 3½ behind the eighth-place Bucks. The Knicks have 18 games remaining.

Chaney hasn’t presented his team with a formula for making the playoffs. If the Knicks, who have played .438 ball all season, somehow found a way to go 12-6 (.667) down the stretch, would that be enough? They would finish the season at 40-42.

“The way the Eastern Conference is right now, it is too erratic,” Chaney said. “You just don’t know.”

The Knicks’ two best players, Latrell Sprewell and Allan Houston, maintained yesterday that the Knicks are still in it. Sprewell thinks the Knicks can beat any team in the East.

“There is so much parity in the East, you never know who is going to win on any given night,” Sprewell said.

The loss to the Grizzlies hurts the Knicks, but they know they can be stuck in the past.

“We can’t even look at where we are, we have to look where we want to go,” Houston said.

On Wednesday, Chaney and the Knicks raised $300,000 bowling for “Cheering for Children.” During the night, Chaney found out Milwaukee and Orlando had lost.

“That Memphis game really hit me hard,” Chaney said. “But I’ve seen it happen many times before. That final run, teams start slipping. I don’t know if it is the pressure, but you can sneak through the back door. What we have to do is stay focused and not allow games like the Memphis game get away.”